


visions in white, in blue

by MintEchoes



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Spoilers for Eden's Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:29:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26939656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintEchoes/pseuds/MintEchoes
Summary: "She saved me, I think," Ryne says.  She still isn't sure if it was truly Ysayle, or Eden, or some combination of the two, or whether it really matters, in the end."She…"  A pause.  "Yes.  That sounds like something she would do."
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	visions in white, in blue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing anything in years, and my first time for XIV. Apologies for the rust - I'm still shaking it off.

"I want… to be the vessel for Shiva."

The reaction is immediate and almost exactly what she expects; Thancred is outraged, Gaia carefully indifferent and Urianger is speechless, his mouth drawn into a tight line, and the Warrior is…

It's the sadness she notices first, and then the _fear_.

But she stands her ground this time. Her logic is solid and her reasoning is sound; they _need_ a living vessel to summon forth the ice, and its strong alignment towards the light makes her the most qualified. Who else could do it? Urianger? The Warrior remains silent as the others reluctantly turn to make their preparations, the lights of Eden's core casting her face in strange shadows.

"You told me about her before," Ryne says to her quietly. "I can – Eden can do this."

There is a pause, long, and heavy, and then the Warrior nods.

~*~

The first thing she notices is the cold.

The glacier is freezing, of course, but as she raises her arms and reaches out for Eden's aether, she swears she feels it drop even further. Eden feels restless, unsure, but she ignores it. _She_ is sure. She breathes in, breathes out.

"I call… upon the power of Shiva!"

The temperature drop this time is unmistakeable.

The ice forms at her feet and she feels a presence at her back. Swallowing the momentary panic, she lets the ice envelop her entirely, and she sees her own face reflected back at her, but… no… the ears are pointed, the skin too pale, the hair long and flowing and icy white. The reflection distorts as its eyes meet hers, the skin turning blue, the pale hair swirling and shifting and _freezing_.

_Ysayle?_

_Shiva._

The ice shatters and the air rushes from her lungs.

The first moment is wonderful. She feels the cold like an extension of herself, aware of every sparkling ice crystal, every wisp of freezing vapour, but something is…

_How long… have I waited..._

She screams as frozen fingers close around her heart.

" _Fools... you would stoke the fires of conflict?_ " _._

"No!"

~*~

_The light is blinding and the cold is painful now, but she pushes herself to her feet. Snow stretches out ahead of her, a blizzard making it impossible to see._

_A woman struggles through the snow, her gaze fixed on some point in the distance. Her long white hair hangs in soaked straggles down her back, clinging around her neck and ears, and Ryne recognises her, even though she has never seen her before._

_"Ysayle?"_

_There is no response. Ysayle continues on her grim path, and Ryne follows her, because she doesn't know what else she can do._

~*~

" _The Light shall usher in peace!_ "

The Warrior only barely has time to cover her eyes as the icy armour disappears in blinding light, replaced with ethereal silk, curving into a halo, ends unfurling like wings. _Hydaelyn_ , the Warrior realises with a start, _just like we saw in the Ravel_. 

This is worse than she imagined.

"Ryne!"

" _Impudence!_ "

~*~

_The Amphitheatre is dark, save for the signal fire Ysayle has lit, violet smoke creeping sullenly upwards. She watches it with frustration, her eyes sweeping the sky for any break in the blizzard. And yet, despite the weakness of the signal, as the minutes pass, figures emerge out of the darkness, separating themselves from the gloom of the towering walls, and she rises to meet them._

_"My brothers and sisters," she calls, her voice ringing against the frozen stone. "You have heard me, and you have come." She raises her arms as her followers come into the weak light of the sputtering fire, some lighting torches to better see their Lady, all exhausted, frozen, and their gazes feverish with devotion._

_"Today, a vision has come to me," Ysayle tells them. "Lady Shiva has graced me with her light, and together, we shall put an end to the conflict. We, whom gods and men have forsaken, shall be the instruments of our own deliverance!"_

~*~

" _Resplendent Ice, grant me strength!"_

A thin layer of fresh ice crystallises in an instant and the Warrior drops her stance, her weapons biting into the ground below her and her weight shifting to keep her footing.

"Not this time," she grits out, forcing herself to her feet as Shiva once more summons her swords to her hands. She forces herself to look at her foe's face and swallows the memories that fight to the surface. She has lost enough. She will not lose this. 

"Not again."

~*~

_The Amphitheatre dissolves in a whirl of snowflakes and Ryne throws an arm in front of her face to shield her eyes, and then she is back. There is a sound like shattering glass as her vision clears and she sees someone flung backwards as sharpened ice crystals tear through the air._

_She realises with a jolt that it is the Warrior she is seeing, but something is different, and Shiva…_

_A towering vision of sparkling ice and blue silk, resplendent in crystal, a queen crowned in glacial splendour._

_"Embrace the serenity… renounce the hatreds that consume you…" The Warrior's face goes pale and she launches herself forward, brandishing her weapons, and Ryne realises how much younger she looks, and then…_

_Everything stops._

_Shiva comes to rest gently on the outstretched blade that is frozen in mid-swing and leans down, as though to whisper a secret to a friend._

_"And scatter them like dust in the wind…"_

_The vision shatters._

~*~

" _Your blood shall freeze!_ "

Icicles crash down around her as the Warrior dodges the ice that bursts from the ground at her feet, sending her skidding backwards, catching herself just in time to dodge another. Tiny slivers bite at her skin and she desperately squints through the shrapnel.

"Ryne! If you can hear me—!" Another wave of ice, almost sending her off the platform. She bites her tongue and launches herself forward again.

~*~

_"I only did what I thought was necessary. This war has gone on long enough!"_

_"And did you think they would thank you for it? For turning them against their brothers? For killing innocents for your misbegotten crusade?"_

_"You don't know what I have seen, Dragoon."_

_"And you don't know what I have suffered, Witch."_

_The two lock gazes over the remains of a campfire until Ysayle breaks away with a frustrated growl. Ryne does not know for sure, but she assumes that this must be Estinien, his mouth tight as he slams the visor of his helmet back down._

_"You should just take that ridiculous thing off," Ysayle eventually mutters dismissively, and Ryne swears that, just for a second, she hears him laugh._

~*~

" _Divine Light, deliver serenity everlasting! Tranquillity must be restored to the land!"_

The ground trembles and disappears under the Warrior's feet as a wave of light erupts from Ryne's feet, rupturing the ice of the glacier.

"Ryne!" she cries as she is swept up in the radiance, drowning in the aether. It burns in her throat and she remembers the sensation and for a second the sky turns roiling white in her vision. She does not know if it is the Echo showing her the past or the future, but all the same, it _burns_.

~*~

_"What are you doing?"_

_Ysayle stands despondent in the sunset, her gaze wandering over the endless landscape of cloudborne islands, coming to rest on the statue of a winged woman in the distance, her hands clasped in everlasting prayer._

_"She wasn't real," she murmurs softly, and for a moment, Ryne thinks she is speaking to her. "I thought myself chosen. I thought—"_

_"You thought a great wyrm would want you?" Estinien's voice is dry and biting in the quiet twilight, and she flinches, shoulders tensing._

_"No! That was never my—!" She whirls to face him and the fire dies in her throat as he catches strands of her long hair between his gauntleted fingers, closer than she realised. She meets his gaze, his helmet nowhere to be seen, and for a second, something shifts between them._

_"What do you think now?" he asks, and she has no answer for him._

~*~

" _Light consume you!"_

The Warrior's blades bite into her skin and for a second, Ryne breaks through, the light burning across her skin and in her lungs. She only wanted to help. She wanted to restore the Empty, not destroy what remained of the world.

_I have to stop this._

The aether pulses under her skin and her hands move against her control, points of light at the tips of her fingers aimed at the only person who might be able to—

_It is too late. This world is tainted by the darkness._

The light rushes forth in a searing wave.

~*~

_Lightning flashes across unnatural clouds, and looming before them, a ship so massive that Ryne cannot believe her eyes._

_And before the uncaring eyes of an unsuspecting army, Ysayle falls. And she speaks._

_"O Goddess born of mine own hopes and dreams. For the last time, I beseech you. Fill this vessel with your light! Still the hatred within our hearts and bless us with eternal grace!"_

_It is a prayer, and a farewell._

_Hraesvelgr roars as the ice forms, and Ryne feels tears on her face._

~*~

"This power… I can't—!" The light is all-consuming and the cold grips her like a vice and through the blurring of her vision she can see the Warrior reaching for her and all she wants is just to –

_Enough!_

She feels the light bursting under her skin, desperate to escape, to _consume_. In desperation, she reaches for the ice instead, but it is too much, too sudden. She hears the Warrior cry out through the pounding of the blood in her ears and she wants to scream as the ice envelops them both.

"The light, it's too much for her to bear!"

~*~

_As unnatural eyes writhe in bloodstained armour, the Warrior stands with weapons still drawn, her own armour singed and soot stained. Estinien chokes on a mouthful of blood and gasps out broken words to her._

_"I would ask one last favour of you, Warrior of Light… Finish me – now, while I have the beast subdued!"_

_But Alphinaud refuses. The Warrior refuses._

_"You waste your time. Kill me! It is the only way! Ending Nidhogg… will be my final duty…"_

_"Didn't I tell you to take that ridiculous armour off?" The voice is gentle, teasing. Ysayle rests a gentle hand over Alphinaud's as she passes. "You never would listen to me."_

_Pale fingers wreathed in soft light reach underneath the visor of the helmet, soothing along the unnatural red veins that snake around his eyes, and he stills at her touch, tries to say her name with his crushed throat._

_"Rest now," she whispers, and as she leans towards him, just for a moment Ryne sees instead a feathered dragon and a woman in a white robe, and then…_

_The eyes shift in their sockets, and Estinien collapses._

~*~

"She won't last much longer!"

The voice seems so far away, muffled through the layers of ice. The light is still building, the cold overwhelming. It will cover the land until everything is still. It is over, Ryne thinks. She has failed, and the world will pay for her mistakes.

Then Gaia's hammer shatters the ice and she _breathes._

"Damn this light! _Damn it all!_ " Gaia's magic feels like thorns gripping into her skin and tar in her throat but she can _feel_ it, the light writhing as it comes into contact with the darkness. She tries to focus on the feeling, tries to fight her way back through. She can see Gaia through the haze, wreathed in darkness, screaming out for her to just _hold on_.

_Ysayle… I'm so sorry, I couldn't be—_

Her vision blurs, this time with tears that she can already feel freezing on her skin. And then, somewhere, Eden stirs.

_Little one, what have you done?_

She feels its aether shifting against her own, pushing against it, curious, searching through the ice and the light.

_Little one._

_Perhaps this will help._

Fingers on her cheek, freezing cold, but… comforting somehow. Her head is swimming, her eyes drifting shut. A voice in her head, no longer Eden, but…

_Ysayle?_

_Shiva._

She can still hear her friends fighting, but it seems more distant now, fading away. The end is coming now. There's no more time.

_It is time to rest, little one. Your friend is calling you._ A finger trails gently upwards, coming to rest on her forehead. 

_Embrace the serenity… Renounce the hatreds that consume you…_

Ryne opens her eyes and meets a vision in sparkling ice and blue silk, resplendent in crystal, a queen crowned in glacial splendour.

_And scatter them like dust in the wind…_

Ryne falls.

She feels the ice still, just for a moment, frigid crystals tumbling through the air around her, and then, nothing.

Shiva is gone. Hydaelyn is gone.

She is Ryne again.

And she is so _tired_.

~*~

"Ryne!" Gaia's voice is shrill, ringing off the ice of the glacier, rousing her almost immediately. She forces her eyes open and tries to focus, seeing the other girl standing over her helplessly, clutching her hammer as though it's a lifeline. Behind her, the Warrior stands warily, weapons still in hand, watching.

"You were there…" she manages, faintly. "I heard you…"

"What happened to Shiva? Is she still in control?" The worry hasn't left Gaia's voice, her knuckles white as she grips her weapon.

"No, she's gone…" And she is. There is an emptiness now, but there is warmth too. "But Gaia…"

"What?" There is an edge of panic in her friend's voice, and she can't help but smile a little.

"That hammer… It matches your dress…"

Gaia blinks at her, disbelieving for an instant, and then flings the hammer aside with a look of panicked incredulity.

~*~

The Warrior finds her a few days later, once they have returned to the Crystarium and she has finally managed to escape Thancred's endless fussing.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" the Warrior asks her, and Ryne flushes.

She starts to apologise, and the Warrior accepts, but that isn't what she's looking for.

"You couldn’t have known," she says simply. "What I want to know is whether you're okay."

There is a long moment before Ryne replies, because she finds she doesn't know. She knows that she was wrong, and that she lost control, and that the Warrior's hands are covered in burns from the light aether that she is purposefully hiding from them all, and she feels _guilty_ , but now there is living grass in the Empty and Gaia has found a goldsmith who is making them both necklaces from that remaining shard of diamond dust, and the coffee biscuits at the Second Serving were just as good as she had heard and the Warrior is still smiling at her like she's _proud_ of her, and somehow...

"I… saw Ysayle," she says instead, and the Warrior's composure slips, just for a moment.

"I think it was Eden," she continues. "I think it saw your memories of her and then it… found her? Even the times you weren't there. "

"I suppose if Eden can summon primals from memories, it might be able to summon other things too," the Warrior muses, her brow furrowed in thought. "Although I don't know if I can exactly vouch for its accuracy, considering…"

"She saved me, I think," Ryne says. She still isn't sure if it was truly Ysayle, or Eden, or some combination of the two, or whether it really matters, in the end.

"She…" A pause. "Yes. That sounds like something she would do." The Warrior's smile is sad, but she seems satisfied. "I… wish I could have seen her too." This is not the first time Ryne has seen the mask slip to show the shadows of loss underneath, but it is only for a moment, and her friend clears her throat, composes herself.

And then she leans back in her chair, crosses her arms, and her smile turns teasing.

"Thancred is still mad at you, by the way." Ryne puts on an exaggerated pout and folds her arms defiantly.

"He'll get over it. _No one_ wanted to see what Urianger looked like as Shiva."


End file.
